Goblin Kings
by HeartlessRomantic
Summary: Why is Jareth King of the Goblins if he isn't a Goblin? What if he is?
1. The Most Goblin of the Goblins

**Goblin Kings**

**Summary: Why is Jareth the Goblin King, if he isn't a Goblin? Or what if he is?**

_**I asked my younger sister about Jareth. Here is our conversation:**_

_**  
**__**Sister: "Jareth is a Goblin."  
**__**HR: "No he isn't."  
**_"_**Is."  
**_"_**Then why doesn't he look like one?"  
**_"_**Because he's the most Goblin-y. When he was just a normal goblin, he was the only one outside when the magic came and turned him into a King."  
**_"_**I might just write a fanfic on that."  
**_"_**Do I need to say it again?"  
**_"_**No, I got it."  
**_"_**Write it down. You know you have a goldfish memory."  
**_"_**Shut up."  
**_"_**MOM! She said a bad thing!"  
**_"_**Idiot."  
**_"_**BE NICE TO YOUR SISTER, GIRLS!"  
**_"_**Idiot."**_

_**So, even though my sister is a bitch, I will write this fanfic anyway.**_

**Chapter One—Most Goblin of the Goblins**

Jareth, Pinchy, Bulbosu, and Hoggle were walking down the Labyrinth path, not turning, just walking.

"Seriously, King Omega is really pissing me off."

"Everything pisses you off Hogbrain."

"HOGGLE!"

"Why do you have to act like you are so above all of us, Jareth?"

"Yeah."

"Shut up, Bulbosu."

"You're just a Goblin like the rest of us!"

"Pinchy, the reason I act like I am better than you is because I am better than you."

"Who made you Alpha and Omega?"

"Who made you an idiot?"

"Now you're just insulting me!"

"No, you think?"

The four goblins tussled their way down the corridor, until the mass rolled into King Omega. "Uh-oh…" whispered Hoggle. Jareth sat up, rubbing his large brown nose. Bulbosu and Pinchy ran off.

"COWARDS!" yelled Omega.

Omega was tall. He was the only one in the Goblin City who didn't look like a Goblin. He had pale skin and white hair, hair that fell down his face in elegant curls. He had blue eyes that would pierce through you, dissecting your soul. And he had a fancy for tight pants. Jareth idolized him. Hoggle feared him. Pinchy hated him…when he wasn't in the vicinity. Bulbosu was just a fool and had no outward feelings for the man.

Omega knelt down to the grimy Goblins level. "Why are you down here?" he whispered, though the sound would carry as far as he wanted it to. "We was just walkin' 'round yer majesty, yer greatness, yer…yer…"

"Shut up."

"Yes sir."

"Ah, Jareth. Jareth the Goblin. Jareth the Most Goblin of the Goblins is what they say about you. Did you know that?"

"Ah, yes sir, they do call me that."

"To your face?"

"Yes sir."

"And you let them."

"Yes sir."

"Pity…I had rather thought you were the one…."

"One what?"

"DON'T QUESTION ME, GOBLIN."

"Alright."

"Alright _what?_"

"Alright, _sir."_

"Very good." Omega spat has he stood up. With a swoosh of his cape, he was gone, all that was left was a tremor in Jareth's heart.

Later that night, Jareth stood before a mirror in his hovel. _I am short, and fat, and my skin feels like leather. I have no hair and my eyes just water. I am pathetic to the largest degree. Maybe that is what it means to be the Most Goblin of the Goblins, _he thought.

Jareth sat on his bed and sighed. He would never be like Omega, no matter how hard he tried.


	2. Alpha and Omega Be

**Chapter 2—Alpha and Omega Be**

_**Ok…not much to say here except I do not own the hott…er…LOTs of goblins or Elfy Jareth or basically anything owned by Henson because I am not Henson and that is very sad . Oh well. I'll gather money. Ohhhhh yes I will. You'll see!**_

_**Anyway, enjoy!**_

Jareth woke up the next morning with a chicken on his chest. Shooing it away he sat up and went through his morning routine.

He went to the mirror and lamented himself. Then he exited his hut and walked down the street, trailing chickens behind him.

Today, he did his daily routine, but he was thinking unusual thoughts, for a goblin.

_What…what if a goblin could be King?_he wondered. _What if…what if I could be King! I'd show Pinchy! He could never doubt the King again! He always called me too interfering for my own good! Isn't that what a King should be? I would take this mudhole and rise it up until…until we were better than the elves! The entire Underground would be ruled by a Goblin…no, THE goblin! The Most Goblin of the Goblins!_

Jareth puttered around his daily duties, imagining Goblin King.

_THE goblin-Me! King Jareth! Jareth-King of the Goblins! Never again would I have to deal with chickens! Never again …oh alright. Neither would Pinchy or Hogwart. Or the other one… NEVER would we be oppressed!_

From that moment on, Jareth resolved to be King. Starting with the research. He spent from sunup to sundown every day, researching ancient Kings, how well they were liked, what they did, how they died, but most importantly, how they became Kings.

He was stunned to learn that not a one of them said. None. No one! Their records started from coronation to death! He would have to find his own way.

But he was going to have models. He wasn't going to be one of those anarchists who look to turn over anything pertaining to previous government. He chose two great Kings. Alpha, and Omega.

Alpha, as the name suggests, was the first documented King of the Goblins. Like Jareth, he searched to bring power to the Goblins. Before he was King, he was an elfish peasant who was sick and tired of domination over him. He went to the Goblin City and brought them all to be his followers. He apparently said then, _only elves, with a mind of goblin, could be a ruler. No damn pretend dictators. Show me a rose, I'll show you a tyrant. Show me a tyrant and I'll show you a man who knows who he is and where he's going. _

Omega is the current King. He is tall and handsome and can bring almost anyone to their knees. He never says what he is doing or why. He seems to not do anything, yet he _must_ be doing _something_!

Jareth thought. _Show me a rose, I'll show you a tyrant. _What the hell does that mean?

_Show me a rose…I'll show you a tyrant…_

_A tyrant…_

_Show me..._

_Show me a rose…_

_A rose…a tyrant._

_A rose… a rose…a rose…_

Jareth awoke. The light had changed, it was now late. He had fallen asleep upon his books. He stared out the window, thinking.

_A king, _he decided, _is enigmatic. A king knows what he is doing. A king, above all, is powerful. I will be both of the greatest Kings. I will have followers. I will have power. I will be the power and the charm and all before me shall fall on their knees! I need a sign, to rally my future people, to bring them to arms, to keep them in line! We will overthrow Omega, and the Goblins will rule themselves again! No more elves in goblin territory! We will be great! We will rival the Elf City! We will rule the Underground! They will tremble at my feet, The Most Goblin of Goblins! _

Jareth was not the only one listening on his thoughts. In gold coin, a man watched Jareth's delusions of grandeur. A man with snow white curls tickling the reflection in the coin laughed.

"That's right little Goblin. You _will _rule the Underground."


	3. A Tale of Two Nymphs

**Chapter 3---A Tale of Two Nymphs**

_**Yay, another chapter! And the last…for a looooong time…sorry! And so the plot thickens…mwahaha….Bye guys. Read, review, etcetera etcetera…as always, dont own labyrinth, i am sorry...**_

Jareth was once again in the clouds. No one noticed much, goblins are not famous for their observance. Omega may have been suspicious of something, but who knows? No one understands how the King thinks.

That is what a King's job _is_.

Jareth's cottage was full of papers and books. He was now the only goblin to have discovered windows, to keep his precious plans intact. It made the air a bit stuffy, but what did that matter? When (not if, when) he was King, he could afford fresh air whenever he wanted.

He was about to put his plan into action (not quite ready, but almost) when something unexpected happened.

Omega had visitors. And not just any old uptight snobby visitors, but _nymphs. _There was a King who had power, getting the nymphs to come. They resided with the naiads in the trees, outside the Labyrinth and far away in the Underground, in the Forest of Fairies. The Forest was near the Aboveworld land of Greece, and regularly, they would make their mischief up there when they tired of below. The Forest was fiercely misnamed; no fairy ever set foot in there. No fairy dared to go near the nymphs, naiads, and dryads. Not many creatures did, but all creatures loved. Nymphs are very different from fairies. Fairies are small, annoying, pretty, creatures that have little to no magical ability other than the ability to fly. They bite. Nymphs are about the size of human, pretty, talented, loved, mischievous, creatures whose magical ability rivals those of the Warlocks of ancient lore. They are not known to bite, but then again…who really knows what a nymph will do next? Nymphs are associated with the element of earth, though their personalities leans on the side of fire: passionate, changing, warming, and dangerous.

When the nymphs came, everyone knew.

Everyone, that is, except Jareth.

He was in his hovel, nearly napping over a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore. Suddenly, BANG! The shutter flew off its hinges.

"Sorry, Pinchy."

"Shut up!"

Jareth looked out the open window. Hoggle, Bulbosu, and Pinchy stood there. Jareth stared at them before they gave the one worded answer:

"Nymphs."

Then Jareth was out of the hovel and running to the road with the rest of them, eager for a glance, maybe even a bit of magic cast.

There were two nymphs, though only one was noticed. She was tall and thin, with blonde hair that flew in ribbons around her neck. Her eyes were a gold color and darkly lined, standing out against glowing skin. The skirt covering her legs was a pale yellow, and the shirt she wore was more gold than her hair. She was the embodiment of the sun and the most beautiful creature any of them had ever seen.

Her companion was less visible. She seemed to hide in the shadow of the other. Her hair was dark, her skin was pale, and her eyes were grey. She would have had a serious face, if not for the grin worn under a sloping nose. Her white teeth sparkled like stars in her hair, hair that did not understand normal gravity. It swayed in the air like seaweed under water. She wore a skirt of midnight and a silver blouse. She was short and skinny, and _pretty_. Not beautiful, like the other…but _pretty. _Yet ignored.

Xannia and Qr'a were their names, Xannia the sun and Qr'a the moon. They knew their positions and how to hold them. They were the nymphs that Omega wanted, but what was wanted, and by whom?

Jareth thought of this as he watched Xannia dance her way up the road and Qr'a glide as if on silver wheels behind her. Omega stood, waiting, and then added his beauty to theirs at the top of the steps. They disappeared into the throne room, a large door closing behind them.

The ordinary goblins went back to ordinary thoughts and ordinary jobs. Jareth was not ordinary, and therefore did not go to normal things. Luckily, the large door that had slammed so majestically, almost saying 'ha-ha, you can't find us!' as it shut, was poorly made (made by goblins after all, carpentry is not their forte) and Jareth could easily listen to what they were saying.

"_Xannia! How lovely to see you again, you know my aunt in Nwefland, under Canada, was saying the other day-" _There was a soft cough.

"_Ah, yes. Qr'a."_

"_Omega."_

"_How's life, ah, been?"_

"_What, since you-"_

"_Shush, shush sister! This is a diplomatic mission! Not a war fought on old battlegrounds!" _a silky voice cut in.

"_Of course. My apologies, _sir._"_

"_No sarcasm!"_

"_Xannia, if I cannot use wit has my sword, what have I? Artemis is not on my side today. She-"_

"_Come, come. Too much useless chatter. To business."_

"_Right. Omega, we come to tell you of a problem." _

"_I assumed." _

"_Well…I'm not quite sure how to say this…"_

"_Xannia, it is quite simple."_

"_Then, you say it Qr'a, since you know so much of it."_

"_Alright. I will. Omega, the magic has awoken. It is coming. You reign…it will end…and soon. The nymphs cannot save you this time, you know the goblin Hoggle should have been the King nigh-on a century ago! Now your monarchy comes to a close and the stars shall not mourn. At night, even the sunflower must darken its petals."_

"_Well, you would know enough of darkening, wouldn't you, witch? Qr'a of the moon? Qr'a gives not the light of the moon but the night around it! Ill news is ill guest!"_

"_Ill news it may be! But it is not for you to decide what to hear! What you must do is open the rose, brighten the fallen star when it is necessary! What will you do with this information? How will you find a star on a new-moon night?"_

There was the screech of chairs on stone. A frustrated groan and a cracking of bones. The door opened with a sigh and Omega appeared, no longer white and tranquil, but red-faced, stormy. He had the moon-nymph by the elbow, and it was hanging in a peculiar way. Her face was also angry, though more of the irritated look of someone who won't be listened to. He tossed her out and down the steps.

"Ignoring the Armageddon brings it about only faster!" shrieked Qr'a. Omega grimaced and then turned to Jareth. "What are you doing here, goblin?" he spat. Jareth put on his best Bulbosu face. "Catching a chicken. It ran away." Omega sniffed and stomped back indoors.

Qr'a _gently_ realigned the popped joint before turning to the goblin. "Catching a chicken? Omega believed that?" she laughed. "There are a lot of chickens around here." Jareth grunted. She sighed. "That I won't deny. Pesky creatures. Too much noise."

"If you don't mind me askin'…"

"I don't."

"Well, then…why are you and yer sister so completely opposite?"

She laughed again, music of nightbells. "Well precisely because we are sisters! We were born to be the day and night and that is why we hold position! There are eight nymphs that have any sort of governmental power anywhere in the world. Night, moi. Day, my sister. There is also Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Shadow and Light, and Life and Death."

Jareth counted again. "That's ten."

"No, that is eight. Shadow and Light is Shusik and Life and Death is Morealth. You can hardly have one with out the other, so they are together, dealing with both."

"Can you not also have that with Night and Day?"

Qr'a shook her head, the grin still plastered to her face. "We are but figments. You cannot see the day, you only say 'it is light out, time for activity' and you see the dark, and you say 'time for rest'. We are but the Sun and Moon, but we…represent I suppose? Is that really the right word? Oh, well. We represent Day and Night. Do you follow me?"

Jareth nodded.

"Now. As I appear to be thrown out of the diplomatic discussion, I shall take my leave. Good bye." She bowed low, hair dropping. She straightened and it was once again picked up by the wind.

She spun to leave, but hadn't gone more than ten paces when a whisper ran up and down Jareth's spine. She turned her head ever so slightly. "Are you…Jareth? The Most Goblin of Goblins?" she whispered. Jareth nodded, confused. She began digging the folds of her skirt. "You'll want this." She touched the pendant around her neck, a shape almost like bull horns, as she tossed a thin, ragged, old book at him. It was entitled _The Labyrinth. _


	4. What is this Feeling? So sudden, so New?

Chapter 4- What is this Feeling, so Sudden, so New?

_What is this feeling, so sudden, so new, felt the moment I laid eyes on you. My pulse is rushing, my head is reeling, my face is flushing. What is this feeling? Fervent as a flame, does it have a name?_

_Wicked_

_**I'm baaaaaaaaaaack! Hello again, just got back from Wisconsin! Land of cheese…and waterslides…and Lake Michigan! It was fun…but now I am back and writing, just for you! **_

Jareth was staying up late that night. He had many nights recently, ever since he had decided to become king. But tonight he was not planning. He was not reading ancient tomes or scrolls. He was reading a book.

_The Labyrinth._

It, in short, was a novel about a Goblin King (the name was blurry) who falls in love with a human girl (the name was also blurry) and gives her the power to wish away her stepbrother. One night she does, and the King takes it. She instantly regrets her decision, so he allows her to go through the Labyrinth to try and solve the puzzle in thirteen hours. She does, and the Goblin Kings powers are taken, and the Labyrinth falls.

Jareth sympathized with the King.

What he didn't understand was why Qr'a needed him to have this book. So he decided to go find her. Where would one find a nymph? The moon was high, and the streets were dark. All the little goblins were asleep in there beds, as visions of chickens danced in their heads…

She was lying in a field in the center of the Goblin City, a field that bloomed only for nymphs for some reason. She was singing.

_A star, a star. _

_Rising in the east, _

_Lighting up a bit _

_Of forgotten land…_

Jareth stood just out of her line of vision for a while, before finally getting his courage up and going to talk to her.

"uh…"

"Qr'a. Call me Qr'a. No titles or anything."

"Well, Qr'a…"

"yes?"

"I don't understand."

"Neither do I. No one understands anything they think they understand, for there is always another side."

"Well…the book."

"What…what about it?"

Jareth noticed that she seemed to stiffen mentally when the book was mentioned.

"I don't understand why I need it."

"Because you are Jareth, Most Goblin of Goblins. The spirits wanted you to have it."

"Spirits?"

"Sit down Jareth."

He did as was told and let Qr'a spin her tale.

"John Amos was a dreamer. He was also a religious man. He was trying to describe religion as a labyrinth, where you need to find your own way to the center, discover what you truly believe, find your own god. That sort of thing. Well, as he was writing about that, he began envisioning dusty walls, optical illusions, strange creatures, False Alarms. And so the Labyrinth was born. Once it was born, it fell to any dreamer to control it. When he died, it was taken up by a man named Henson. He gave it more definition, a King, goblins, Wild Gang. Then Henson died. So it fell to another person, a girl this time, who had magic in her. So much magic that she was reincarnated over and over, each time with a different name. Angelus, Soprano, Oceania. Now, she is a babe again, a child of the name Sarah. The spirits of all the dreamers come here, and they keep the Labyrinth alive when another dies. They know what is going to happen, they know Lady Fate, and are not about to gamble with her. Fate told them, who told me, that Jareth, Most Goblin of Goblins, needed to have that book."

Jareth sat back, leaning against a thin tree, which held him with an unhappy creak. The fates knew him, they were helping him. He needed to finish the book, maybe there would be a sign.

He looked up again, and the nymph was gone. She left her pendent however. In sparkling letters above it read, _The spirits aren't the only ones to dish up help. Take this, you will need it. _

Jareth picked it up, and stared long and hard at it. It appeared to be made of bone, shaped like a moustache, with copper wire wrapped around it. He put it on.

What was this feeling?


	5. You Never Can Tell With Magic

Goblin 5

_**Yet another chapter for you people before I disappear yet again to New York. See, aren't I nice? audience coughs Shut up people.**_

**_Just read the story. Review if you want. I would love you forever if you did of course!_**

**Chapter 5—One Never Does Know With Magic**

This feeling…

It was a feeling…

Of…

_Power_.

Jareth had power. He held the pendent in his wrinkly brown hands. Did this give it to him? It must have…

At that moment, Xannia the Sun came dancing out. "Have you seen my sister?" her silken voice asked. For a moment, Jareth was too stunned to speak. He pointed to the garden. She smiled and kissed the top of his grisly head.

_Idiot, _he thought. _ No chance to be suave. Need to be suave. Hey, I have power, I have ambition, I can do anything!_

He looked again at the pendent. Qr'a said was magic…

All doubt disappeared, without so much as a wave goodbye. He was going to become King. He was going to use the magic he had. And he was going to do it for Xannia.

In the middle of his dramatic music playing in his head, he heard voices.

"_I told you. Omega is a filthy goblin."_ Qr'a spat.

"_Is that only because he loved you?"_

Whaaaaaaaaaat? Omega loved Qr'a?

"_No."_

"_What else? Because he is a rebel? Because he is handsome-"_

"_Gorgeous." _ Jareth could hear no sarcasm.

"_Or is it because he has a kingdom to rule and you have a tree?"_

"_No! I am not that shallow!"_

"_Well then. What is it?" _

"_It's…Jareth…he seems so unhappy. And the other goblins…they are unhappy…I can taste it in the wind. And they live in such small hovels…Omega has a castle. They are trapped, and he is refusing to see it. He is a megalomaniac who can't see that the magic is coming again. One other shall be King."_

"_Who?"_

"_Xannia, you're so stupid sometimes."_

"_Is it Hoggle?"_

"_No…his time is past. The most he can hope for now is to be close to the King."_

Xannia gasped. "_It isn't!"_

"_It is."_

"_But you-"_

"_I know."_

"_You fool!"_

"_When have I not been? Love turns us all into fools."_

"_Love? But he-"_

"_I know."_

"_And you-"_

"_I know."_

"_You'll go to the gallows for this!"_

"_And?"_

There was a pause.

"_Omega still loves you, you know."_

"_I can tell, by the way he dislocated my arm."_

"_He didn't mean to."_

"_Really."_

"_Yes. You should go talk to him. He loves you."_

"_But I don't love him."_

"_Not anymore."_

"_Once a fire is out, it has no chance of being reborn! A new flame can start, but an old one remains dead! Dead!"_

"_He won't let you die."_

"_It is inevitable." _

Conversation drifted off to gossip of Morealth. Jareth edged away, careful not to be seen.

How in the world could he make the damn pendent work? Jareth was sitting in the dark, in his shack, staring at the amulet. Were there magic words he was supposed to use? No, Qr'a would have certainly given him that if he needed. He had tried rubbing it like a magic lamp (no genii appeared), he tried yelling, screaming, swearing, hitting, throwing, staring, and gibberish (hey…you never know. Quaverimannisycamore could very well mean 'I call upon all magic to make the stupid thing work!' Actually, it means 'I covet your neighbor's green eel stew')

He gave up. He left the thing (as he chose to call it, so annoyed by it he wouldn't bother saying what it was) on his table, amid papers, scrolls, and books.

Wind came through the shutter Bulbosu had broken. Papers flapped uselessly, not able to fly as they wished, for the three large books Jareth had placed upon them.

Jareth was cold. Shivering, he picked up the _Labyrinth._ A piece of paper fell out. It was a parchment paper, written in beautiful sapphire ink calligraphy.

_Dear Jareth, _

_Found this letter finally? I wondered how long it would take. Here is a description of what is going to happen. _

_Jareth, you have been chosen, as I am sure you know, to become the next King. You were the most promising of the goblins. _

_Now. The magic is coming. The magic was created a long, long time ago. It was created by four gods: Odin, Ra, Zeus, and Jehovah. They were charged with the creation of everything, but as do we all, they began to wane in their efforts. They had been creating for an age, and they couldn't stop, but truth be told, they were bored. So they created one last thing before taking a vacation—dreamers. Remember what I told you of John Amos? How he created the Labyrinth and then it was handed down through dreamer, through dreamer, until it reached one so powerful that it stopped there and she was reincarnated over and over? This girl will be coming shortly, and we need you to be ready for her visit. This visit means everything to the Labyrinth. _

_Look in the book I gave you. Names were blurry weren't they? _

Jareth looked. Before his eyes, the spots he had named King Blurry and the Other One began to twist, like faces in smoke. They spelled King Jareth and Sarah.

_They spell your name, don't they? _

_We, Xannia and I, are going to call on Omega. He refuses to give up power. We have already…all right. I already seceded to him before, believing myself to be in love. Watch carefully Jareth. Love is simply an idea given by idealists to explain why people lose their minds. It doesn't exist. _

_Anyway. We are going to call on him, and we are going to kill him. _

Jareth blanched.

_Don't worry—he's done worse. We are going to kill him and put you on the throne. All you have to do is not run away to Canada. _

Where was Canada?

_Canada is an Aboveground kingdom. _

Oh.

_Just make sure you are there. You will be asked to choose a queen. Refuse. You will be asked to choose a right-hand man. I recommend Hoggle. Whatever you do, do NOT tell him he was to be King. _

_Above all: Don't panic. _

_Love, _

_Qr'a of the Sun _

Jareth read the letter. He was overcome with a feeling in his heart he couldn't name. He picked up the amulet again. It was cold, as was everything else. As he held it, it turned white hot, and he dropped it.

He looked at the amulet. He looked at the hand that dropped it. It wasn't brown, or wrinkly. It wasn't his hand.

Far away, near the castle, a nymph screamed in pain.


	6. Kingdom Come

Goblin 6

_**Here I am! Back from New York and here for the next two weeks before school starts! Don't worry, you'll still get updates then! And now, for the main attraction, the story! Wait, side attraction first. In the last chapter, Qr'a wrote a letter to Jareth and signed it Qr'a of the Sun. My mistake! It should say Qr'a of the Moon. If it helps, think that she might have been drunk. **_

_**And NOW the main attraction!**_

**Chapter 6- Kingdom Come**

"OUCH!" Jareth hissed between his teeth as he cracked his skull on the roof … again. He looked at his hands again. They were pale and thin, spidery almost. He was still dressed in Goblin attire, and was still a rather chubby, rheumy eyed Goblin. Except he was an elf. And he was tall.

Giving up on trying to get out the door, he sat on the floor and held the pendent in his hands. It felt warm, like a living thing, pulsing. It gave a particularly hard pulse. He stared at it, then looked down.

He appeared to have lost a lot of weight.

A nymph screamed again, but Jareth didn't hear. What he did hear were bells. Omega was calling them. He may not look like a Goblin, but there are some things you just can't give up. Frog and pond sort of thing.

With much swearing and hittings of head, Jareth managed to ply himself from the hut. He was glad no shoe horns were needed.

Standing at his new full height, he saw that he was nearly three times as tall as a Goblin. Jareth swayed on his feet. He never had been one for heights. Whispers swam around his knees like minnows.

_A visitor!_

Nothing excites a Goblin more than a visitor. Except maybe a chicken.

Jareth was now a very tall, very handsome, very blonde elf. He was the Most Goblin of Goblins, and he was going to be King.

Trying out his new feet, he ran to the castle, only falling once. On the steps he saw a curly haired version of himself. He was angry, his face was red, but somehow he still radiated an air of languidly about him. Jareth should be afraid, but he felt like he was a king with one move in the game of chess. Omega had always played chess with his pawns, and Jareth was the King in check. One move can change the game. And Jareth was going to take it.

Amongst the Goblins he stood, proud and wearing a larger version of their clothing.

Omega glared daggers at him, but Jareth didn't budge. Finally the last ring echoed off into nothingness and Omega began to speak.

"…ach…"

Well, almost. He seemed to be choking on the words that he didn't want to spit out. Instead, he called for the Nymphs.

Xannia appeared, beautiful as ever, dressed in a gold summer dress and barefoot. Her hair blew in the breeze and reflected brilliantly in the noon sun. Jareth was so busy staring at her that for a moment he didn't realize what she was doing.

She appeared to be carrying a shadow, but then a cloud covered the sun, and he could see what it was. A body. A dead body.

Omega stared. Jareth stared. The Goblins stared. The body moved. A head was lifted, and it was Qr'a. She was thin, with a pallid sheen of skin stretched tight. Her eyes were shadowed and too large for her face. Hair that used to fly free was now hanging limp and dull. She wasn't dead. But she was dying.

She stood straight, held by both Omega and Xannia now. In a cracking voice she said, "Welcome, Goblins. Welcome to a new age. Your King is going to die, and the magic will come to make one of you King."

Whisper, whisper, mutter, mutter.

"It has been chosen and it will remain that one of you is King. This King is Jareth!" She collapsed. Omega reached down to pick her up again, but Jareth was there first. Neither of them was sure how he was, but it didn't matter. Jareth knelt beside Qr'a and Omega squatted near. Xannia flitted around them, muttering things in the nymph's language, but it was all Greek to Jareth. He tried to ignore the amazingly stunning woman dancing around him as he looked at the darker girl. It was proven easy, after Qr'a coughed blood on his pants.

She half wiped of the red coming from her mouth, but didn't get it all. She spoke, "Jareth. I am dying."

"I can see that…" muttered Jareth.

Qr'a glared. "Shut up. I am dying and I am going to do a properly dramatic way of it. You only die twice."

Jareth nodded, the started. "Twice!"

"Shut up. Here." She held a scroll in a limp hand. Jareth took it. "Don't read it now. Just know this : You are going to be a great King. The girl is coming and you need to make sure that she doesn't finish. Once she finishes, there will be nothing left to dream and the Labyrinth will crumble. She will get your book. Make sure of it. I love you, good…good bye."

She started shaking, as if from fever. Jareth picked her up, holding her bloody, shaking, dying body close. Omega gritted his teeth. The noise made Jareth look up. He saw a hundred Goblins standing there, not knowing what had happened. "Go away! Go inside!" Jareth shouted, not expecting much of a response. But every Goblin there instantly entered homes and hovels and chicken coops. Even Bulbosu.

He didn't have time to ponder this. The shivering nymph in his arms froze. She fell wilted like a rose past its peak.

_A rose? _

_Show me a rose and I'll show you a tyrant. Show me a tyrant and I'll show you a man who knows where he's going. _

_A rose. A tyrant. A nymph. _

Jareth stood, letting Xannia mourn over her sister. "Every man needs a rose, Omega," he said. "Every man needs someone to prick and to beautify. My rose was her, and I never realized it. A rose is a tyrant. And a tyrant is someone who knows where he is going. Did you ever know where you were going? Did you ever have a rose?"

"You know nothing of roses, Goblin!"

"Yes! The Goblin King!" Jareth turned away from his once idol. He knew now, Omega was simply a man who thought he was King. But he was just a figure head. He never did anything, go anywhere. Jareth vowed he would not be like that.

Leaving the nymphs and king, he sat on the steps to ponder. The amulet on his chest pulsed hot, and with a final throb, fell cold again. Jareth stared at it again. His vision changed, and he saw he was wearing Omega's clothes, tight pants and all. He had this feeling again, one that he could conquer all, only now it was tinged with magic.

He opened the second letter.

_Dear Jareth. _

_The magic is about to come, and you are now Omega-esque, aren't you? You are king, because of the necklace I gave you. The amulet held my life's magic, the blood in my veins, metaphorically. I gave it to you so you would become King. You were the receiver of my magic, my life. It means that you, in essence, have killed me. _

_And if you aren't a good king, I will haunt you for all eternity for taking my life. _

_Do not appoint a queen. Have no roses. _

_I love you,_

_Qr'a of the Moon_


	7. The Last Chapter

Last Chapter

_**This was written at midnight, so… if that explains anything…**_

**The Last Chapter**

_An elfish goblin sits amongst shattered glass, staring out a broken window. A thin layer of grime covers everything, including the King. He sits, watching what had once been a happy Goblin City, Labyrinth, kingdom. It is crumbling. The walls are eroding, the souls regressing. Brick after brick falls, showering everything with another layer of dust. Huts topple, streets crack, clouds rise. But no living creature makes a noise. Jareth is the only one left. Not even a chicken. _

He held an amulet in his hand. It was cold. Everything was cold. This is what happens when dreams die. Reality itself falters.

Jareth took one last look at his Labyrinth, his only rose. Qr'a had died to put him here. He never realized the pain he caused them, Hoggle, Qr'a, the Labyrinth. He had never felt his own thorns. Qr'a had almost been his rose, had she lived… though Jareth never understood. He had promised her to never have a rose, never to be tied down.

But then Sarah had come. She was the most powerful, most creative, most wraith-like in soul of the dreamers, Qr'a told him. She was reincarnated, over and over, always adding to the kingdom, but leaving nothing but the memory of a dream long past. Qr'a had told him never to let Sarah through the Labyrinth. Dreams would break, souls would burn. Once she reached the climax of fantasy, there was nothing more to make up. And without anything to make up, the inner mind of the Labyrinth fell. And fall it did, all smoke and mirrors. He had failed the Labyrinth and he had failed Qr'a. If you can't please a rose, you will surely feel it's thorns.

The pendent in Jareth's hands grew warmer, warmer, white hot! Jareth yelled, the sounds of the Labyrinth drowned out his screech. He didn't let go, though he was sure it was burning his hand. When the amulet does something, Qr'a was sending him what he needed. The pendent had not pulsed in years, though now it was beating like a heart in a race. The beats grew faster, harder until it gave a final (goodbye?) throb and fell silent.

Something was happening…. Jareth didn't know what. He found out a moment later, when the Tumbling of Jericho's noise was muted, like being pushed under water. The view out his window blurred before a creamy white replaced it.

"I'm dying." Jareth thought calmly, too calmly? "I wonder if this is what it was like for Omega?" he speculated sleepily. He heard a soft laugh, laugh of nightbells. Déjà vu he couldn't place it, a familiar sound given by new voice. "No," said the voice. "Omega's death was much more painful."

Jareth thought he saw a ghostly eye, a whispered laugh. But it was not, he knew, his imagination of phantom lips upon his, or soft blue cloth beneath his fingertips as he caught the shadow. His surroundings turned darker, a garden at midnight. He pulled away and looked at the nymph in his arms. Grey eyes met his mismatched ones, and under a sloping nose was a grin on a serious face. Hair defied every law of physics written, and her teeth sparkeld like stars after a storm.

"Qr'a!"

"You only die twice Jareth!"

**FIN**

**_Ok. Last chapter! The end…sigh. Oh well. That's all folks!_**


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